The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant botanically known as Verbena×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balazvio’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif. during February 2003. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Verbena cultivars with attractive flower coloration, continuous flowering, small, dark green-colored foliage, excellent basal branching, and a trailing growth habit.
The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary Verbena×hybrida breeding selection designated BFP-2256, not patented, characterized by its lavender colored-flowers having a dark eye, medium green-colored foliage, and semi-trailing growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar was ‘Lan Roy Pur’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,980, characterized by its dark purple-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and mounded-trailing growth habit. The new Verbena was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during May 2003 in a controlled environment at Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since May 2003 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.